The Distress for Rent Rules 1988

Citation and Commencement

1.  These Rules may be cited as the Distress for Rent Rules 1988 and shall come into operation on 1st February 1989.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Rules—

“Judge” means a Judge of a county court;

“certificate” means a certificate to act as a bailiff granted under the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888, as amended by the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1895;

“Registrar” means a Registrar of a county court;

“Proper officer” shall have the meaning given in the County Court Rules 1981(1) by virtue of Order 1, rule 3 of those Rules;

“lodge in court” shall have the meaning given in the Court Funds Rules 1987(2);

“Court Funds Rules” means the Court Funds Rules 1987(2).

(2) A Form referred to by number in these Rules means the Form so numbered in Appendix 2 to these Rules and shall be used with such variations as the circumstances may require.

Forms of Certificate

3.—(1) A general certificate in Form 1 may be granted only by a Judge and shall authorise the bailiff named in it to levy at any place in England and Wales.

(2) A special certificate in Form 2 may be granted by a Judge or Registrar and shall authorise the person named in it to levy only in respect of the distress or distresses to which it applies.

Applications for Certificates

4.—(1) An application for a general certificate made at a time when the applicant has no current general certificate issued under these Rules, whether or not he has such a certificate issued under Rules in Force prior to the commencement of these Rules, shall be made in Form 3.

(2) An application for the grant of a special certificate shall be made in Form 4.

(3) An application for a general certificate to be granted upon the expiry of a current general certificate issued under these Rules shall be made in Form 5.

(4) Applications under this rule shall be filed in the office of the county court in whose district the applicant has his principal place of business or his main residence, accompanied by the fee prescribed by the County Court Fees Order 1982(3) for the “commencement of proceedings for any other remedy or relief”, and shall be lodged together with:—

(a) in the case of an application in Form 3, two references, one of which may be from the applicant’s employer or an approved officer of the Certificated Bailiffs' Association of England and Wales and shall deal with the applicant’s knowledge of the law of distress and his previous experience of levying distress, and

(b) in the case of an application in Forms 3 or 5, a certified copy not more than one month old of the result of a search of the Register of County Court Judgments against the applicant’s full name and his home and business addresses for the last six years, and

(c) in the case of an application in Forms 3 or 5, two passport sized photographs of the applicant, and

(d) in the case of an application in Forms 3 or 5, copies of the Forms 7, 8 and 9 intended to be used by the applicant when levying distress, which shall conform to the design and layout prescribed in Appendix 2, shall be on paper of durable quality and of the size A4 as specified by the International Standards Organisation, and shall be in a clear and legible printed or type-written form.

(5) The statements in an application under this rule shall be verified on oath.

(6) The applicant shall, if so directed, lodge such further evidence as the Judge or Registrar may reasonably require in support of his application.

Granting of Certificates

5.—(1) The Judge or Registrar shall not grant a certificate to any applicant,

(a) who fails to satisfy the Judge or Registrar, as the case may be, that

(i) he is a fit and proper person to hold a certificate, and

(ii) he possesses a sufficient knowledge of the law of distress;

or,

(b) who carries on or will be employed in any business which includes buying debts.

(2) An application for a general certificate in Form 3 shall not be granted except on the personal attendance of the applicant and his examination on oath at the hearing of the application.

(3) No certificate shall be granted to any officer of a county court.

(4) The name and address of all applicants for a general certificate shall be exhibited in the public area of the court office for the 60 days prior to the hearing of the application.

Security

6.—(1) The applicant shall be required to

(a) lodge in court by way of bond or deposit, or

(b) satisfy the Judge or Registrar that there is subsisting by way of bond or deposit,

security totalling £10,000 in the case of a general certificate or £750 in the case of a special certificate.

(2) The security referred to in paragraph (1) above shall be for the due performance of the bailiff ’s duties and for any reasonable costs, fees and expenses incurred in the investigation of any complaint lodged against the bailiff, or in the cancellation of his certificate, and shall be applied in accordance with rules 8 and 9.

(3) Where a deposit is lodged in court under paragraph (1) above, the provisions of the Court Funds Rules shall apply.

Duration of Certificates

7.—(1) A general certificate shall, unless cancelled, have effect for the period of two years from the date of its grant.

(2) A special certificate shall, unless the Judge or Registrar otherwise directs, have effect for one month from the date of its grant, but shall in no case have effect for a period exceeding two months.

Complaints as to fitness to hold a certificate

8.—(1) Any complaint as to the conduct or fitness of any bailiff who holds a certificate shall be made to the court from which the certificate issued.

(2) Upon receipt of any such complaint as is referred to in paragraph (1), the proper officer shall send written details of the complaint to the bailiff and require him to deliver a written reply to the court office within 14 days thereafter or within such longer time as the court may specify.

(3) If the bailiff fails to deliver the reply within the time specified, or if upon reading the reply the Judge is unsatisfied as to the bailiff’s fitness to hold a certificate, the proper officer shall issue a notice summoning the bailiff to appear before the Judge on a specified date and show cause why his certificate should not be cancelled.

(4) The proper officer shall send a copy of the notice to the complainant and any other interested party.

(5) At the hearing:—

(i) the bailiff shall attend for examination and may make representations, and

(ii) the complainant may attend and make representations.

(6) The procedure to be followed at the hearing, including the calling of evidence, shall be such as the Judge considers just, and he may proceed with the hearing notwithstanding that the bailiff has failed to attend.

Cancellation of Certificates

9.—(1) Following the hearing of any complaint under rule 8 the Judge may, whether he cancels the certificate or not, order that the security shall be forfeited either wholly or in part, and that the amount or amounts directed to be forfeited shall be paid to any complainant by way of compensation for failure in due performance of the bailiff ’s duties, costs or expenses or, where costs, fees and expenses have been incurred by the court, to Her Majesty’s Paymaster General.

(2) Where an order for the forfeiture of the security, either wholly or in part, is made but the certificate is not cancelled, the Judge may direct that fresh security under rule 6 shall be provided.

(3) Where a certificate is cancelled, the order of the Judge shall be in Form 6 and, subject to the provisions of this rule, the security shall be cancelled and the balance of the deposit returned to the bailiff.

(4) When a certificate is cancelled or expires it shall nevertheless continue to have effect for the purpose of any distress where the bailiff has entered into possession before the date of cancellation or expiry, unless the Judge otherwise directs.

(5) When a general certificate is cancelled or expires it shall be surrendered to the Judge, unless he otherwise directs.

(6) When a certificate is cancelled the proper officer shall publish a notice to that effect:—

(a) in a local newspaper, or

(b) if the bailiff’s main area of business extends beyond the district of the court, in a national newspaper, and

the costs of the notice shall be deducted from the security.

Fees, Charges and Expenses

10.  No person shall be entitled to charge, or recover from, a tenant any fees, charges or expenses for levying a distress, or for doing any act or thing in relation thereto, other than those authorised by the tables in Appendix 1 to these Rules.

11.—(1) In the case of any difference as to fees, charges and expenses between any of the parties, the fees, charges and expenses shall upon application be taxed by the Registrar of the county court of the district where the distress is levied, and he may make such order as he thinks fit as to the costs of the taxation.

(2) Where the court in which the taxation is conducted is not the court in which the bailiff was granted his certificate and the Registrar is of opinion on the taxation that there has been overcharging of such magnitude as to call into question the fitness of a bailiff to hold a certificate, the proper officer shall send to the court in which the bailiff was granted his certificate a copy of the taxed bill endorsed with a note of the Registrar’s opinion.

(3) The receipt of a bill under paragraph (2), shall be treated as a complaint under rule 8(1).

Levy and Removal

12.—(1) Every bailiff levying a distress shall produce his certificate to the tenant if he is present or, in the absence of the tenant, to such other person present as appears to be in control of the premises.

(2) A bailiff levying distress shall deliver to the tenant, or leave on the premises where distress is levied, a memorandum in Form 7 identifying the bailiff and specifying in an Inventory the goods distrained on and setting out the amounts for which the distress is levied and the fees, charges and expenses authorised by these Rules and being actually and necessarily incurred under them.

(3) A bailiff or his agent attending to remove goods from the premises or withdrawing from possession prior to sale of the distrained goods shall deliver to the tenant or leave on the premises where distress is levied a memorandum in Form 9 setting out the expenses of removal authorised by and incurred under these Rules.

List of Certificates

13.—(1) Each court shall compile a list of bailiffs holding general certificates as at 1st February every year and the list shall be exhibited in the public area of the court office.

(2) When a certificate is cancelled the list shall be amended to include that fact.

Repeal

14.  On the coming into operation of these Rules:—

(a) the Distress for Rent Rules 1983(4) shall be revoked save with respect to distresses levied before these Rules come into operation; and

(b) any certificate granted or renewed before these Rules come into operation shall continue to have effect for the period for which it was granted as if it were a certificate granted under these Rules for all purposes except the application of rule 4; and

(c) any certificate granted or renewed before these Rules come into operation and expressed to expire between 31st January 1989 and 30th April 1989 shall continue to have effect until 30th April 1989 as if it were a certificate granted under these Rules for all purposes except the application of rule 4.

Mackay of Clashfern, C.

21st November 1988